French Village Shuns Hegseth at 82nd D-Day Ceremony as Pentagon Chief Skips Main Event
Updated
Updated · FRANCE 24 English · Jun 7
French Village Shuns Hegseth at 82nd D-Day Ceremony as Pentagon Chief Skips Main Event
3 articles · Updated · FRANCE 24 English · Jun 7
Summary
Langrune-sur-Mer residents said Pete Hegseth was unwelcome at Saturday’s 82nd D-Day commemoration, and the US defense secretary did not attend the main international ceremony there.
A local association urged officials to cancel his visit, citing what it called anti-European remarks, warlike statements and values contrary to democracy, human rights and peace.
Hegseth instead spoke at the American cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, where he used anti-immigrant rhetoric and pressed European countries to spend more on their own defense.
British Defence Minister John Healey and French officials attended the Langrune ceremony, which focused on honoring roughly 3,000 young men killed on D-Day rather than current politics.
The dispute cast a modern transatlantic rift over a memorial to the June 6, 1944 landings, when 132,700 Allied troops and 6,939 ships stormed Normandy’s beaches.